The Digital Transformation Game Changer: Digital Adoption Solutions in 2021
Richard dos Santos
In a year characterized by the phrase ‘you’re on mute’, most of the working world launched, all guns blazing, into the digital realm. Some swam, others sank, some are still treading water. With no IT support department found lurking in the cellar, technology that should have catapulted profit and productivity leveraged little more than frustration. That’s the context in which Gartner published its research on digital adoption platforms, naming tts as one of its Sample Digital Adoption Solution Vendors.
Planning the Unplannable
The problem that both tts and Gartner identify is as follows: Businesses push for transformation, seeing all the benefits that switching to digital solutions can bring. Their next step is implementation. That very rarely worked in the past, although at least there was a chance for open discussion and joint problem solving in the office. In an era of social distancing, there is something ironic about the idea that if a company working from home is struggling with Microsoft Teams, they have to be able to use Teams to ask how to solve it.
It is not only the remote work aspect of the pandemic that created new difficulties in technology rollouts. For some industries, the pandemic presented a huge upscaling of processes. Retailers seeing a 600 percent increase in delivery requests suddenly had to create and automate processes to cope with that, as well as introduce HR technology to deal with drastic increases in onboarding and shift-scheduling needs. Hospitals, transport systems, production lines – all experienced organizational or demand disruptions that left employees floundering. Incorporating complicated technology into an already chaotic situation is like throwing a bag of scissors into an under-resourced barbershop. It is the right tool, yes. But whether anyone uses the scissors or the quality of haircut they end up giving relies on how well, or even if, they’ve been trained.
Learning that lasts
The pandemic necessitated quick decision making. Moving forward, foresight is key. Positioning a digital adoption solution as an intrinsic component of digital transformation is the first step to success and should give you the resilience to meet the next big challenge.
But how do we encourage sustainable learning during a digital transformation? Through handholding or through making mistakes? Through teaching well in advance or right at the moment of need? tts is one of few digital adoption solution providers, if not the only, that runs with the idea that learning and guidance are equally important conditions for the success of a digital transformation. tts’s tools support employees from configuration, to testing, to go-live, and provide both the foundational knowledge and the instructional help that comes into play later. This format offers the extra benefit that, when sudden and unavoidable developments occur, employees still have the change mindset built in and are ready to take on the next transformation. Without research being undertaken to determine the best route, tts can only offer what we have seen: a learning and guidance hybrid is by far the most productive, future-proof way of supporting a digitally transforming workforce.
Lessons for the future
In picking up digital adoption platforms as a research topic over the last couple of years, Gartner is indirectly confirming a fact that tts already knew. Digital adoption is not only key to a successful digital transformation, it is becoming a fact of business life. Whether a transformation sped through due to emergency conditions or one that has been a long time coming, DASs with business process and learning capabilities need to be part of the process.
Perhaps you now consider yourself settled in the digital future – maybe you have even worked out how to unmute yourself before speaking – but it is time for an attitude change. Every moment of disruption must be followed by a period of improvement. Instead of just catching up with the digital reality of today’s world, consolidate plans for the next shift in technology with a failsafe digital adoption solution at its core. Given that your company’s winning edge may be determined by your employees’ agility in the face of this and subsequent change, this might just ensure your company’s success.
